Visakhapatnam: Transforming Education for Humanity (TECH)-2017 will be organised in the city from December 16 to 18 under the aegis of UNESCO and Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP).

AP HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao said: “We organised with success mega events such as IFR, Partnership Summits, Disaster Management and E-Governance. TECH-2017 will assume similar significance. Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu will inaugurate it. Union HRD Minister Prakash Javdekar will attend it. AS many as 250 delegates from 71 countries will participate in the three-day conference,” he said, adding that Ministers of nine countries and 50 ambassadors will be there.

Health Minister Kamineni Srinivas inaugurated a dialysis unit and an Intensive Respiratory Care Unit (IRCU) at the King George Hospital (KGH) here on Wednesday.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Srinivas said that the KGH was catering to not only patients from North Andhra districts but also those from neighbouring Odisha and Chattisgarh States and hence top priority was being given to provide modern high-end medical equipment and appointment of full-fledged doctors and staff nurses and employees.
He said 20 dialysis units were being provided at the KGH under public-private participation jointly by the Central government and Nephro Plus. While 14 dialysis units were already installed, the remaining six would be provided soon. He commended the KGH administration and staff for doing more work with less staff. KGH Superintendent G. Arjuna and Andhra Medical College principal P.V. Sudhakar were present.

The Surajya Yatra being launched by Lok Satta founder Jayaprakash Narayan for good governance in two Telugu States will begin in Visakhapatnam district from September 15.
The Yatra will raise six key issues-providing citizen services in a transparent and time-bound manner, quality and affordable education to all, health care, decentralization of power to allow local bodies address the grievances of people effectively ensure punishment to those who violated law and committed crimes without undue delay to restore people’s faith in law and make agriculture profitable as majority of people, dalits and weaker sections were dependent on it for their livelihood — during the yatra and come out with solutions to achieve them.
The four-day yatra in Visakhapatnam would cover Gajuwaka, Andhra University, Madhurawada and Anakapalle and leaders would interact with different sections of people. From September 19 to 23 it would enter East Godavari district.

Completion of pending projects figures prominently at the divisional panel meet.
Members of Parliament, who attended the Divisional Committee meeting of Waltair Division of East Coast Railway here on Friday, sought early completion of pending projects and introduction of trains sanctioned in the last budget.
The MPs sought among other things early introduction of the Visakhapatnam-Varanasi train, additional Vistadome coach on the Araku train, running of a special train from Visakhapatnam to Araku for tourists, reducing the journey time of AP AC Express, setting up a Railway Recruitment Board for Andhra Pradesh in Visakhapatnam.
Earlier, welcoming the gathering, ECoR General Manager Umesh Singh spoke on the performance of the zone and various developmental activities being undertaken over the zone. Divisional Railway Manager Mukul Saran Mathur presented the division’s performance and achievements.

The airline seeks time slots.
AirAsia will operate direct flights to Bangkok from Visakhapatnam either from October or from November this year. The airline submitted a letter to Airport Director of Visakhapatnam International Airport requesting for time slots.
Tour and Travel Operators Association of Andhra (TTOA) has been following up continuously with the airline operator starting with the visit of High Commissioner of Thailand Pisan Manawat and his team and also the top decision makers of Thai Smile to Visakhapatnam on August 31, 2013, according to TTOA chairman O. Naresh Kumar and its president K. Vijay Mohan. In the absence of a direct flight, people from Vizag region are going to Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata to catch flights to Bangkok and other cities in Thailand.

White tiger cub released for public viewing.
Indira Gandhi Zoological Park observed the World Ozone Day with a series of programmes on Saturday. An awareness programme was conducted in association with the Green Climate NGO. Students, volunteers and visitors participated in the programme. The programme highlighted the effects of ozone layer depletion and best practices to protect ozone layer were explained. Zoo curator B. Vijay Kumar spoke on the significance of the day.
On the occasion, the four-month-old white tiger cub, kraal, in the day for public viewing.

He says Naidu concentrating only on Amaravati region.
The repetition of the mistake of ‘capital-centric development’ in Amaravati would fuel movements for separation in other parts of the State. This was pointed out by Justice BN Sri Krishna Committee and later echoed by the Sivaramakrishnan Committee, former Minister Konathala Ramakrishna has said.
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who had admitted his ‘Hyderabad mistake’ and promised decentralized development in all 13 districts of the State, was now concentrating only on Amaravati region, ignoring other regions of the State, Mr. Ramakrishna told the media here on Monday.
The TDP 2014 election manifesto also promised all round development of the State.
The people of Visakhapatnam had not asked for the capital, though the city has all advantages. But, the backward districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam, which comprise North Andhra, have been denied their due even after three years of the new government coming to power.
Mr. Ramakrishna said the 400-bed Visakha Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS), set up during the late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy government, was functioning only partially with the beds lying unused for the past five years.
He demanded converting VIMS into the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) as the proposed AIIMS in Guntur was ‘fat-fetched’ as there is nothing but an empty land parcel, surrounded by a compound wall. The government could have easily opted for VIMS as it was